the perfect finishing touch to my voluminous party dress with the angora bolero top.

They didn't really stand up to the rigours of energetic party games.

Squeak Piggy Squeak, Blind Man's Buff, Oranges and Lemons,

Musical Chairs and Musical Statues usually entailed a fair bit of shoving and dodging.

Your big toe went through them pretty quickly.

The first pair that I had any independent say overwere bright pink ankle boots.I was so proud of them.They killed my feet but I could never admit it.Desert boots and clogs were the mainstay through my teenage years.Clark's sandals in summer.I never wore high heels and my platform shoes weremuch more conservative than my younger sister's.

Friday, 16 January 2015

There was a ridiculously beautiful supple leather biker jacket on sale in Sainsbury's today.(My boutique of choice.)I've never owned a leather jacket.I stuffed it in my trolley with the butternut squash.The woman at the checkout held it aloft and kept telling me(and all the interested people in the queue), how much it cost, as if to give me a chance to come to my senses.I gave her my stoniest stare.Then she asked if I had tried it on.I said no.She asked, did I think it would fit?I chickened out.I told her it was for someone else.She asked if it would fit them.I said I hoped so, through gritted teeth.Then she asked if it was cheap for a leather jacket.I said I'd never bought one before.She said, make sure you keep the receipt.Then as if the Universe was quite determined to make me see the folly of my purchasethe alarm went off as I tried to exit.The security guard took me to one side.He took the jacket out of the bagShe hadn't taken off the tag.

I produced the receipt.

It was there between rice noodles and gingernuts.

He took it back to the till and waved it around a bit morefor everyone to see.Then he brought it back and smiled.It's a nice jacket he said.Somehow, it had lost some of its allure.

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Also a possible kitchen floor colour change.The blue linoleum of twenty years servicewas mysteriously and irrevocably damagedaround the time that the new windows went in.Yellow is being considered.It is even more blazingly sunny than this photo suggests.

The cyclamen are doing their best to cheer up the view from the window.